Ethiopia maintained its polio-free status for almost four years after the last wild polio case was reported in Somali regional state in January 2014
ADDIS ABABA (APA)–The World Health Organization (WHO) said Ethiopia is close to eradicating polio, as the 5th World Polio Day was celebrated on Wednesday under the theme: “Commending Ethiopia’s polio-free status, sustaining the gains”, in Addis Ababa.
During the celebration, the WHO Representative to Ethiopia, Dr. Akpaka Kalu, said Ethiopia maintained its polio-free status for almost four years (45 months) after the last wild polio case was reported in Somali regional state in January 2014.
UNICEF and Rotary International also lauded Ethiopia’s great achievements in polio eradication, and reaffirmed their commitment to building on the success of the joint polio eradication efforts to sustain polio-free status of Ethiopia.
“We are very close to eradicating polio in Ethiopia and congratulations to you all, for this achievement. The country should continue its efforts to maintain the achievements,” Dr. Kalu said.
He added that “celebrating our success day is key to boost the end result that the country anticipated for ensuring that no child anywhere suffers from this completely preventable disease”.
“Though we have made good progress, we still have to work to sustain the gains toward polio eradication, the WHO representative continued.
“The progress we have made is mainly attributed to the leadership of the Ministry of Health, the commitment from the regional states and their communities, as well as the great collaboration of polio partners like the Rotary International, UNICEF, USAID, CDC and Core group. I thank you all for your great support.”
Noting that polio continues to circulate in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria, the WHO representative said as long as polio is still circulating in some countries, Ethiopia remains at risk and hence urged the need to be vigilant.
WHO has committed to continue its support to the Ethiopian government to strengthen implementation of all polio eradication strategies, including routine immunization, surveillance, polio SIAS and mop up activities, Dr. Kalu announced.
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